As I sit in the gate, it's 11:15 a.m. Central Time and Delta flight #906 is scheduled to leave for Atlanta, then onto Baltimore arriving about midnight Eastern Time.
My brain is yet basking in the afterglow of this journey. The only destination that came close to preparing me for life in Guatemala was my trip to Haiti in December a few years ago. About 70% of the Guatemalans live in some level of poverty. To understand life here, one must understand that.
Let me now give you thoughts and share images in Friday's afterglow.
We started the morning at the children's wing of St. Luke's Hospital located with the Hope of Life village. Here babies who have been literally rescued from a premature death are being nurtured to wholeness again. Unbelievable. When I walked in the room, all but one baby was being held and loved on. So, I grabbed little Ana up and here we are:
Next, I got to watch some on our team spend much of the morning with the kids they sponsor through World Help. It was a very tender moment to see the interaction. Jesus-compassion filled the atmosphere.
After lunch we went to visit families who literally live in a dump. They make their living actually going through the garbage in an attempt to recycle glass, plastic and metal to meet their basic needs. And of course ends still don't meet. So, we were there with Hope Alive to provide food and drink for all generations. They are fed three times a week by groups like ours who volunteer through Hope of Life. Watching the children was especially heart-wrenching. I am not ready to post pictures of the little ones yet. It's too real to me. I will, however, post a photo of a grandmother named Pastore. She sat peacefully in the buzzard-filled and smoke-filled dump. My heart broke when I saw her, too, but the countenance on her face curiously drew me in. When asked, "How are you today?" she replied, "I AM HAPPY!" I squatted beside her and asked about the reason for her happiness. She touched her chest and said, "Jesus lives inside me." Looking at her beautiful, filthy feet, I proclaimed the DNA of my blog: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." Pastore indeed gave us good news in a dump. Pictures below:
After leaving the dump, we journeyed to our adopted village to dedicate the first-ever church there. I was asked to lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony and to preach at the first service. I asked two villagers to come and join us and to actually cut the ribbon -- Marta, an old Jesus-glowing, prayer warrior-granny and Freddie, a single dad who drives an 18-wheeler, who let us know he was saved in a Nazarene church. See images of the celebration below. Off-the-charts!
Last evening the Hope of Life orphaned teens who live at The Village of Transformation thanked us for coming by serving us and entertaining us at a full-blown fiesta. Humbling and Holy Ground.
Give away your life... God will give you LIFE for now and for forever.
Note: Click on photos for full-frame view.
Grateful
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